Police Superintendent Brown calls cop deployment study lacking – Chicago Tribune

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Mayor Lori Lightfoot will have the chance to appoint a fourth member to the Chicago City Council next month, as 12th Ward Ald. George Cardenas announced he is stepping down as alderman effective Nov. 30. Cardenas is slated to take a seat on the Cook County Board of Review, a property tax appeals body, following next Tuesday’s elections.

Cardenas’ replacement follows three others this year, as several aldermen already left the Council. Roughly a dozen others are not running for reelection.

Meanwhile, U.S. Rep. Jesus “Chuy” Garcia took two key steps toward announcing a campaign for Chicago mayor this week, after he conducted a poll that shows him beating Lightfoot, whose candidacy he supported in 2019.

Take a look at the Chicago mayor’s race 2023 lineup: Who is in, who is out, who is undecided.

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More than a year after he was given an analysis that raised questions about the effectiveness of Chicago police patrol response and assignments, Superintendent David Brown is now calling the study lacking, and he announced that he plans to seek his own officer deployment evaluation.

Brown made the statements last week at his first appearance of the newly seated Community Commission for Police Safety and Accountability, where he faced questions about how the department handles critical decisions about patrol assignments, including whether there is a disparity in how Chicago neighborhoods are policed.

After waging several unsuccessful campaigns as a Democrat, former Chicago alderman and attorney Bob Fioretti’s latest attempt to return to the political stage is on the Republican side. It’s a rematch against Toni Preckwinkle, three-term president of the Cook County Board.

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Preckwinkle is considered the leader in the race: Incumbency, fundraising, polling and her leadership of the Cook County Democratic Party are on her side. Moreover, a Republican hasn’t led the county board since Richard Ogilvie stepped down in 1969.

Chicago developers worried last year that construction projects would face bureaucratic snarls after city planners added a layer to the approval process. Builders already had to run a gantlet of officials on several commissions and committees, as well as City Council. Some now had to face the Committee on Design, a panel of experts who would critique designs and press developers to make improvements.

Although none of the several dozen projects analyzed by the committee since its first public monthly meeting in August 2021 have started construction, most have marched steadily toward full City Council approval and several developers are ready to begin construction over the next few months.

Quarterback Justin Fields played well Sunday, albeit in a 49-29 beatdown by the Dallas Cowboys. The Bears offense had a solid afternoon, too.

Fields threw for two touchdowns and ran for another, the first time in his career he has accounted for three TDs in the same game. His 73.9 completion percentage was the highest in his 18 career starts. His 120.0 passer rating was a career best and just the second time he’s gone over 100.

A week ago, a mural of Kanye West on Lake Street in Fulton Market was painted over by artist Jason M. Peterson, who had created the mural and collaborated with West on projects. Peterson was tight-lipped on the alteration, but he told the Tribune that Scott Wilson, the founder of design company MINIMAL, which owns the building, asked that something be done about its north-facing wall.

So Peterson painted a silhouette over the Kanye part. You heard about this. It made news last week, then was just as quickly sucked into the hailstorm of responses to West’s antisemitism. What you didn’t hear was how Peterson gave his work more poignancy.